3 - Bounty

Information

Title: Bounty
Episode number: 3
Production number: 104
Director: Jesse Warn
Writers: Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux
US Air date: 8th November 2008
UK Air date: 20th August 2009
Gallery: View Bounty images

Synopsis

After Richard, Kahlan and Zedd survive an unprovoked attack by a mercenary named Denfir, they discover that Darken Rahl has placed a hefty bounty on Richard's head. Sebastian, a maker of magical maps, has sold three of them designed to track the Seeker, one each to Denfir and two other bounty hunters, Gunther and Rolf.

A woman named Lilly helps Richard and his friends escape another ambush, then asks his help to save her brother Liam from the Shadrin, a vicious mythical creature. But first, they must fight off an assault by Gunther. Zedd goes to find the mapmaker who put everyone on their trail, while Richard and Kahlan continue with Lilly. But her plea is really a trap - Lilly captures Richard to deliver to Darken Rahl's D'Haran soldiers, leaving Kahlan trapped with the Shadrin.

Lilly reveals that her brother was actually imprisoned by the D'Harans, who will execute him, and she plans to exchange Richard to gain his freedom. But Kahlan, having escaped the Shadrin, catches Lilly, only to be cornered by Denfir and Rolf. Zedd returns in time to save them all from the bounty hunters, and Richard decides to help Lilly rescue her brother, despite her lies.

Lilly tricks Rahl's soldiers into using one of the magic maps, which leads them not to Richard, but directly to the captured Denfir and Rolf, left in the deadly lair of the Shadrin. Zedd forced Sebastian to make a new map to track the bounty hunters, taking the soldiers to their doom. With Lilly and her brother reunited, the word spreads that the Seeker has returned - a hero ready to fight for anyone who needs his help.

Review by Tracy Casebere

Fresh from leaving Hartland behind, Richard, Kahlan and Zedd begin the arduous yet essential task of hunting down Darken Rahl. What they didn't count on however is being hunted themselves.

When you are a man of power like Darken Rahl is, you don't look for the Seeker yourself; you dangle the promise of gold in front of others and let them do the dirty work for you. But considering the Seeker was only recently named, how on earth do the people of the Midlands know who to search for, and where? That's easy. They buy a magical map from a guy named Sebastian, and voilà! Yes, it really is that simple. All you need is some gold and an item which belongs to the person you seek and you can have your very own Marauders map. It needs old and powerful magic but apparently that's not too much trouble for Sebastian; aka sleazy salesman, aka Ted Raimi, aka needs a haircut.

In the meantime however, Richard, Kahlan and Zedd can be found running through the forest hunting not for Darken Rahl, but for food. With no obvious McDonald's in sight, (Sebastian can create a map to find Richard but not to find a fast food joint; figures) they are reduced to catching, or rather not catching bunny rabbits. Zedd provides some comic relief by getting a little trigger happy with his Wizard's Fire and ends up incinerating their dinner. But then that's what happens when you don't burn things in a long time, you forget how to do it (clearly it's not like riding a bike.)

And thus, whilst their minds are categorically on their bellies rather than on their surroundings, they are ambushed by the bounty hunters. These guys aren't looking for the taste of paradise, they are looking for the Seeker and by golly they've found him. Cue a little more wizard's forest fire courtesy of one upside down Zedd, and a little fighting by Kahlan and Richard and you have yourself a nice little action sequence.

So far so good, but being the Seeker comes great responsibility (oops sorry, wrong Raimi production) - and it seems everyone wants a little piece of him. Enter the crux of the episode, the damsel in distress; the moral reasoning in the otherwise dog-eat-dog world of the Midlands: Lilly, whose brother has conveniently been captured by a mythical creature called a Shadrin; and guess who she wants to help get him back? Yup, that's right, Richard.

Fortunately Richard has this must-help-everybody thing going on, and he simply can't refuse a woman in tears who has an ample bosom (her words, not mine.) This is where Kahlan and Richard have their first major disagreement: help Lilly's brother or stick to their original plan and go after Darken Rahl? Obviously if Richard agreed with Kahlan there wouldn't be much need for a 22 episode series - so he becomes the classic hero and helps the sister. Only Lilly is really a bounty hunter (she doesn't want gold though, she wants her brother) and she ends up double crossing them.

This is bad news for Richard who is now tied up like a Jesus Christ superstar on the back of an old cart. He's forced to try and talk his way out of his predicament, only his persuasive charms aren't what they used to be and Kahlan ends up saving the day, almost. After fighting off Lilly, they are trapped once again by greedy bounty hunters. With a little good timing from Zedd and bit of honesty from Lilly, they set about helping Liam, her brother, who really is in danger but from D'Haran soldiers rather than a Shadrin.

Despite it all, Richard still wants to help. This act is what defines him as the Seeker; he knows he must defeat Darken Rahl, but he also knows that those affected by Darken Rahl need help in their own personal battles too. You can fight for the cause but there won't be much point without the people.

Ultimately Richard saves the brother, but he did more than that. He catalytically announced that the Seeker is back, and going further, he gave the message that he's on the people's side and he's willing to fight for their freedom - so they better be ready!

Bounty is one of those episodes where although it doesn't advance the plot, it fleshes out the characters for later on in the series. Yes at times the pacing of the episode chopped and changed so much you weren't quite sure who was capturing whom, but it showed nicely that first appearances aren't everything. And sometimes in order to do the right thing, you have to do the wrong thing. I'll sign off this review by informing everyone the slow motion guy is still alive and kicking - as clearly demonstrated in the matrix-esque fight scenes earlier - I thought you all should know.